The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Isn’t It Romantic

The song of the day for Thursday, October 10, 2024, is “Isn’t It Romantic.”

About This Song

“Isn’t It Romantic” was written by Richard Rodgers and Larry Hart for the 1932 movie Love Me Tonight, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. The song has proved to be one of their most popular and has been and still is widely recorded by artists including Chet Baker, Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, Ella Fitzgerald, and The Bill Evans Trio. In his book American Popular Song, Alec Wilder calls “Isn’t It Romantic” a “perfect song.”

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Isn’t It Romantic” in July 1973 for Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs. He was accompanied by The Ruby Braff/George Barnes Quartet, with Braff on trumpet, Barnes and Wayne Wright on guitar, and John Guiffrida on bass.

“Isn’t It Romantic,” as well as Tony Bennett Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook, is available on Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: Have You Met Miss Jones?

The song of the day for Sunday, August 18, 2024, is “Have You Met Miss Jones?.”

About This Song

Richard Rodgers and Larry Hart wrote “Have You Met Miss Jones?” for the 1937 musical revue I’d Rather Be Right. It’s one of their sweetest and most charming love songs, as the young man who is introduced to Miss Jones and falls in love immediately. In addition to Bennett’s recording, other significant recordings include those by Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Have You Met Miss Jones?” in July 1973 for his album Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs. He was accompanied by The Ruby Braff/George Barnes Quartet, consisting of Braff on cornet, Barnes on guitar, Wayne Wright on guitar, and John Guiffrida on bass.

“Have You Met Miss Jones?,” as well as Tony Bennett Sings The Rodgers & Hart Songbook, is available on Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: I Wish I Were In Love Again

The song of the day for Saturday, March 15, 2024, is “I Wish I Were In Love Again.”

About Today

We are remembering Ruby Braff on the anniversary of his birth on March 16, 1927. Braff was a noted cornet and trumpet player. Braff, with The Ruby Braff/George Barnes Quartet, played for Tony Bennett’s two albums of Rodgers and Hart songs: Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers and Hart Songs and Tony Bennett Sings More Great Rodgers & Hart, both released on Bennett’s own Improv label in 1973.

About This Song

“I Wish I Were In Love Again” was written by Richard Rodgers and Larry Hart for the 1937 musical Babes in Arms. It was a favorite song of Judy Garland, who recorded it in 1940. Other recordings include those by Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Audra McDonald.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “I Wish I Were In Love Again” in July 1973 with The Ruby Braff/George Barnes Quartet (Braff on cornet, George Barnes and Wayne Wright on guitar, and John Guiffrida on bass), for Tony Bennett Sings More Great Rodgers and Hart, released in 1973.

In 1973 Tony Bennett and The Ruby Braff/George Barnes Quartet did a concert at Alice Tully Hall in New York. Whitney Balliett wrote a profile essay called “A Quality That Lets You In” for the January 7, 1974, issue of The New Yorker. Here’s an excerpt:

The concert at Alice Tully the next evening is billed as “An Evening with Rodgers and Hart,” and it is a smooth and engaging success. The hall is sold out, and the audience is hip. Bennett sings the verses of most of the songs and by the time he gets a note or two into the chorus there is the applause of recognition. He sings twenty-one Rodgers-and-Hart tunes, and many are memorable. He sings a soft, husky “Blue Moon,” and then comes a muted Ruby Braff solo. “There’s a Small Hotel” is even softer, and Braff and George Barnes react with pianissimo statements. The group, indeed, is impeccable. The solos are beautiful and the dynamics all anticipate Bennett’s. He does “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” as an encore. The ovation is long and standing.

“I Wish I Were In Love Again,” as well as Tony Bennett Sings The Rodgers & Hart Songbook, is available on Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: Thou Swell

The song of the day for Wednesday, January 3, 2024, is “Thou Swell.”

About This Song

“Thou Swell” was written in 1927 by Richard Rodgers and Larry Hart for the musical A Connecticut Yankee, based on the Mark Twain novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. “Thou Swell” is one of the more charming songs from the musical, as the lyrics feature a combination of modern and medieval language: “thine eyes are cute too” and “I’d feel so rich in a hut for two.”

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Thou Swell” in July 1973 for the album Tony Bennett Sings More Great Rodgers & Hart, released in 1977. Bennett was accompanied by the The Ruby Braff/George Barnes Quartet, with Braff on cornet, Barnes and Wayne Wright on guitar, and John Guiffrida on bass.

“Thou Swell,” as well as Tony Bennett Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook, is available on Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: Manhattan

The song of the day for Monday, September 11, 2023, is “Manhattan.”

About This Song

“Manhattan” was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1925 for the Garrick Gaieties, where it was introduced by Sterling Holloway. The song made its first film appearance the following year in a short entitled Makers of Melody. The song has remained popular up to today and is frequently recorded by jazz and popular singers. In addition to Bennett’s recording, “Manhattan” has been recorded by Blossom Dearie, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, and Dinah Washington. It is often used in films, including Silent Movie, Mighty Aphrodite, and The English Patient.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Manhattan” in July 1973. The recording was released in 1976 on Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs.

Playing with Bennett on this album was the Ruby Braff/George Barnes Quartet, consisting of Braff on trumpet, Barnes and Wayne Wright on guitar, and John Guiffrida on bass. In his autobiography The Good Life, Bennett fills us in this quartet:

My main focus in late 1973 became the brilliant trumpet playing of Ruby Braff. I’d known Ruby since 1951 when I first played Chicago. Ruby heard George Barnes and Bucky Pizzarelli playing at the St. Regis Hotel in New York, and he sat in with the two guitarists. He loved the way that combination sounded and suggested to George that they start a group. When I heard about this group, I had to check them out. I thought they were great, and Ruby said to me, “Why don’t you come and sing a couple of tunes with us, and relax for a while, you know?”

I liked the groove I got into with this intimate group so much that I did two special concerts at Alice Tully Hall in New York. Ruby and George played the first half instrumentally, and then I came out and sang with them–two entire evenings of Rodgers and Hart. Two weeks later I recorded twenty-four Rodgers and Hart with Ruby and George, with Frank Laico as engineer.

“Manhattan,” as well as Tony Bennett Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook, is available on Apple Music.

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